


Now I Know to Miss You (now I know you are my world)

by SoccerSarah01



Category: One Piece
Genre: (as in robin flashing back not traumatic flashbacks), (for the most part), Canon Compliant, Family, Flashbacks, Gen, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, STOP BEING GUILTY AND DOUBTING UR BRO'S LOVE FOR U, anyways I love sabo and I love robin and I love luffy, smacks sabo with a stick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:59:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27310822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoccerSarah01/pseuds/SoccerSarah01
Summary: Sabo shifts slightly, drawing Robin’s attention. His eyes are brighter than Robin’s ever seen them, focused firmly on her captain as he snores. Usopp slips down fully onto the floor, and Robin smiles as Sabo absently readjusts Luffy’s covers, tenderness in every motion as he smooths them down over his chest.(She’d wanted to tell Luffy about Sabo so, so bad. He’d still been hurting, even two years later, his loss clear in the way he’d stare wistfully at the stars at night before turning to talk to someone who wasn’t there; clear in the way he’d grip at his scar, sometimes, glaring into the distance; clear in the way he’d bring Ace up, talk happily about him, but have tears beading in his eyes.(The few times she’d been the one to console him after a nightmare, it had taken all her willpower not to give him the hope that he so desperately craved.)She knows it wasn’t her secret to share.Still, only Sabo’s promise to reunite with him as soon as possible had stilled her tongue as Luffy sobbed into her chest.)-(After Dressrosa, Robin reflects on her captain and his older brother, and Sabo finally begins to heal.)
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Nico Robin, Monkey D. Luffy & Sabo, Nico Robin & Sabo
Comments: 8
Kudos: 110





	Now I Know to Miss You (now I know you are my world)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! So I wrote this in a frenzy for three hours this morning because one of my friends wrote a snippet with a similar premise and that lit a fire under me, so here we are.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

It’s quiet.

After the revelation of Sabo’s past – of his suffering, his _loss_ – silence descends upon the small cabin. The only thing audible is the quiet tinkering of Franky fixing himself next to Robin, the soft snoring of their captain, the subtle wind of the night gentle against their faces. Sabo sits, perched on the edge of Luffy’s bed, and Robin smiles at the look of absolute peace on her friend’s face.

(When Robin first met Sabo, a few weeks after that awful, awful day, he was smiling. He was polite. He was obviously happy to see her join with them, even if it was temporary.

The more Robin looked at him, though, the more she noticed. His smile was wan. His politeness, while genuine, was a front. His happiness was thin, wavering the longer they spoke. She hadn’t known why, for a while – she’d just met him, after all. It wasn’t her place to pry.

But, one night, they both ended up on the roof. Looking up at the stars, wistful, longing, Sabo spoke quietly of a forest, of cliffs, of a new life. He spoke of laughter, wild, and free, and purely _happy._ He spoke of three cups, forever bonding him with the most important person in Robin’s life, and the most important person in her _captain’s_ life.

Before she could even begin to wonder why he wasn’t _there_ , the worst day of her captain’s life, Sabo swallowed, visibly fighting back tears. “One day,” Sabo began, barely audible over the soft breeze washing over them, “My _father_ found us.” He spat out _father_ like it was something poisonous, something _vile_.

“I was born a noble, see, and he decided that I needed to come back, to be the _heir_ he so desperately coveted.” Sabo’s fists balled up by his sides, and he looked truly _angry_ , for the first time since Robin knew him. “He threatened Ace and Luffy,” he said quietly, “So I went with him.”

Ah.

Robin understood, then.

It seems being sacrificial for that wonderful, wonderful captain of hers is something common, after all.

“A few days passed, a lot of shit happened, and I decided to set out.” Sabo brought a hand up to his left eye, brushing it before he let it fall away, and just _slumped_ , closing his eyes. “A Celestial Dragon shot me down,” he said quietly, and Robin purposefully _didn’t_ react, only humming understandingly for him to continue.

He knew more than most what atrocities, what _injustice_ , the government supports, after all. Needless anger wouldn’t have helped, no matter how much Robin wanted to show it.

“I woke up, and all I could remember was undying hatred for my parents,” Sabo whispered, and his eyes were scrunched, his pain etched deeply into the lines of his eyes; his thin, pressed-together lips, and _oh_.

Robin knew what happened.

“I’m sure you can guess what happened next.” Sabo wiped furiously at his eyes, and for a moment, all Robin could notice is how heartbreakingly _young_ he looks, his pain so, so raw, eyes full of desperation for the brother he lost; the brother he couldn’t hold through his pain. He was only twenty, yet he’d already gone through so much.

Children being destroyed, lives being ruined, loved ones being lost, _taken_ without mercy.

What a cruel, cruel world they live in.

Sabo laughed bitterly, then, falling onto his back and staring at the sky. “Here I am, a fucking mess, yet Luffy’s the one really suffering here.” He brought his hands to his face, burying the heels of his hands into his eyes and rubbing furiously, and said, “It’s been ten years. I didn’t even _know_ Ace, not really, so what _right_ do I have to feel like this; to grieve?”

He let his hands fall to his side and laughs, but it’s an empty, choked-off thing. There were tears falling freely from his eyes, then, and Robin’s heart clenched at the pure _pain_ encompassing him as he chokes out, “Luffy’ll probably never forgive me.”

“My captain isn’t the type to hold grudges over this sort of thing,” Robin said mildly, looking steadily at Sabo. Sabo stares at her for a second, before he shook his head.

“At this point, you know him better than I do. But…I left them,” Sabo admitted, closing his eyes, defeated, and she shook her head.

“You’re still their brother. You’re still _his_ brother,” she said. He looks at her, then, and his eyes are bloodshot, but hope shines in them, and she smiles as softly as she can at the young, young boy staring desperately at her. “He’ll forgive you,” she says surely.

(She knew there wasn’t anything to forgive.

Sabo didn’t understand that, though.)

Sabo actually sobbed, biting his lip and closing his eyes, and said shakily, “I hope so.”

Robin smiled, because she didn’t have to hope.

She knew.

He’d done the same thing for her, after all.

Her captain, forever forgiving and always willing to take back whomever he calls family.)

Sabo shifts slightly, drawing Robin’s attention. His eyes are brighter than Robin’s ever seen them, focused firmly on her captain as he snores. Usopp slips down fully onto the floor, and Robin smiles as Sabo absently readjusts Luffy’s covers, smoothing them down over his chest.

(She’d wanted to tell Luffy about Sabo so, so bad. He’d still been hurting, even two years later, his loss clear in the way he’d stare wistfully at the stars at night before turning to talk to someone who wasn’t there; clear in the way he’d grip at his scar, sometimes, glaring into the distance; clear in the way he’d bring Ace up, talk happily about him, but have tears beading in his eyes.

(The few times she’d been the one to console him after a nightmare, it had taken all her willpower not to give him the hope that he so desperately _craved._ )

She knows it wasn’t her secret to share.

Still, only Sabo’s promise to reunite with him as soon as possible had stilled her tongue as Luffy sobbed into her chest.)

Sabo sighs, then, and makes to stand up. Robin frowns as he says, “Well, so long!”

“You’re leaving already?”

Sabo turns to face her, nodding and smiling brightly. “I got a good look at him.” Robin nods reluctantly, and Sabo hands a vivre card to Zoro, and says, “Well, I’m sure Luffy will continue to be a handful, but take good care of him!” Robin smiles and lifts her hand up in a wave, and Franky, true to form, sobs a goodbye from next to her. Sabo tilts his hat at them and grins, turning for the door.

Sabo then hesitates, turning back one last time towards Luffy. He bends down over Luffy, tucking him in a little bit more, devotedly tender in the way he makes sure her captain’s as comfortable as possible. He brushes a hand over Luffy’s forehead, brushing back his bangs, and runs a hand through his hair. His other hand rests next to Luffy’s, and he pauses, for a moment, giving Luffy one last tender look before he presses his hand down in order to stand up fully.

As if responding to his brother leaving him, Luffy’s hand moves, patting from side to side until his fingers brush against Sabo’s. Sabo freezes, lips parting in shock (and a little bit of awe, Robin notices) as Luffy finds his hand, clasping at it.

Sabo stays frozen, for a moment. Luffy shifts slightly, mumbling incoherently, before Robin hears a faint, “‘Bo…”

Sabo seems to actually _melt_ , then, turning his hand over and gripping Luffy’s hand back in turn. Robin smiles softly, secretly, as Sabo crouches down in front of his brother, swallowing down his emotion as he brings his other hand back up, brushing it against Luffy’s cheek. Sabo blinks furiously, a few times, eyes wide and wondrous as Luffy leans into his hand, lips turning into a small smile at the simple contact from his big brother.

“I think Luffy would like it a lot of you stayed just a little longer,” Robin says softly. Sabo looks impossibly tender, rubbing his thumb against the back of Luffy’s hand softly, and nods. He sits back down, on the edge of the bed like he’d done before, but then seems to reconsider.

Robin chuckles quietly, impossibly fond, as Sabo lays down, slipping an arm under Luffy’s head. Luffy immediately readjusts, nuzzling into Sabo’s shoulder and mumbling sleepily.

Sabo smiles, a small, wondrous thing. Robin turns away as Sabo starts murmuring to his sleeping brother, catching a hint of an, “I missed this,” as she returns to her reading. She shares a small, secretive smile with Franky, continuing to work beside her. He’s crying full out, and Robin smiles slightly and hands him a tissue.

They all settle in, then, Franky tinkering, Usopp, Kyros, Bellamy, and Law sleeping, Zoro pretending to sleep – Robin knows he’s keeping an eye on all of them, though, fondness filling her at his familiar protectiveness. Robin continues reading, feeling utterly at peace as she watches Sabo settle down, closing his eyes and curling protectively around his little brother.

Sabo looks more at peace than Robin’s ever seen him.

Robin smiles.

She’s glad.

Sabo deserves to be at peace, after all the pain he’s gone through.

(Her captain’s happy too, and, well, that’s what Robin’s been waiting for, ever since that lonely night under the stars.)

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!
> 
> (Tldr of this fic: I adore Sabo, and Robin, and Luffy, and Sabo needs to stop being so guilty.)
> 
> [My Tumblr](https://sarahwritesss.tumblr.com/)!


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